


What Never Existed

by IreneSpring



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Episode: s02e06 Fog of War, F/M, One Shot, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29290902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneSpring/pseuds/IreneSpring
Summary: Trapped in a stone prison, Marcus Kane reflects on what led him here, and how (or if) he should move forward.
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane
Comments: 12
Kudos: 13





	What Never Existed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arborealstops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arborealstops/gifts).



> Taking a break from my regularly scheduled SVU fic to write something for The 100! I started watching the show and am not finished yet, but I am also part of the 1% of the population that isn't bothered by spoilers, so comment whatever you want.   
> As of now my favorite character is Lexa, but I have absolutely zero Clexa ideas yet and I clearly had this idea so this is what's getting posted. I am always a sucker for angsty character analysis fics, what can you do.   
> I would like to thank my friend arborealstops for their encouragement and for inspiring me to start watching The 100 in the first place.

Marcus figures it makes sense the person he’s trapped in here with is Jaha. If there’s one person that he finds as repugnant and pathetic as himself, it’s him. He continues to struggle with the chain, knowing that it won’t help anything, just trying to give the appearance of doing something. He has no plan. He never did. He just kept going based on instinct because every time he stops to actually do internal calculations he just ends up being wrong. 

At least this time he only hurt himself. Yes, this is comparatively his least costly failure. Maybe not if one considers that these negotiations might have been the only way to avoid war, but really, since Marcus was wrong about the negotiations ever being serious, he didn’t fail. 

Even Marcus Kane can’t destroy something that never existed. 

Though maybe not, he reminds himself, as he pictures the closed-off look on Abby Griffin’s face. There was never anything between them, at least nothing set in stone. But there was the potential of something. He had killed that potential when he stood by as she screamed. Abby, or at least the Abby that could have loved him, was just another victim to add to his pile. 

Jaha, meanwhile, has seemingly decided to pick this moment to snap out of the casual suicidal ideation that defined him since his son’s death. He rambles on to Marcus about how they still have a future, about how this isn’t where they end. And Marcus would kick him if he could move his foot. Because if they can’t have peace, then he wants it to be the end. 

Unlike Jaha, he would never say this out loud. He doesn’t want sympathy. Doesn’t want to be seen as brave. If he dies here, it’s just as well that his people think he died begging on his knees. He doesn’t deserve the hagiography. There shouldn’t be a Camp Kane.

He doesn’t even want to die, not necessarily. He just wants it to be over. Because every time he’s had to make a decision, every time he’s been faced with a conflict, he’s guessed wrong. Done wrong. Allowed himself to be pulled in the wrong direction or done the pulling. He killed 300 innocent people. He damn near barbecued his… his Abby. Because danger has a way of pulling out the sociopath within him, and in order to protect his people and everyone else who inhabits the ground, he either needs to end the danger or his life. He always preaches about the responsible thing, and well, that would be it.

When he hears footsteps coming down the stairs, his resolve almost shatters. On a basic, primal level, he wants to live. All that talk about keeping enough oxygen to secure the human race was just as much bullshit as Jaha saying he would wait in section 17. It was never about the principle, it was only about himself. He wants to see Abby again. He wants to actually do something good with his life. He wants to see his mother’s tree grow. He even just wants to see a sunset one last time. 

The men that enter are large and fierce-looking, and with them is a small woman who looks almost as out of her depth as the two prisoners. Or maybe more out of her depth, given that Jaha hasn’t been able to wipe that stupid smile off of his face. The larger man, apparently the Commander, tells them that they will negotiate, but throws a knife between them. One of them dies, the other makes the treaty. Marcus wants to laugh. He wonders if the commander knows that he’s thrown the knife to the two most suicidal people from the Ark. Whoever picks up the knife will almost certainly try to use it on themselves. A reverse prisoner’s dilemma:  _ if I choose to stay silent, can you make sure my friend confesses?  _

They are left alone then, with the girl, who hunches in on herself and finds a corner. Marcus then remembers that Jaha no longer wants to die, and with that comes the realization that this stone prison is the last thing on the ground that he’ll ever see. The servant girl is the last woman he’ll ever see.

Abby Griffin was the first woman and the first thing he saw on the ground. She told him later that the first thing she saw were the trees, and he agreed noncommittally. But he had lied. The first thing he saw was her face, alight with joy and wonder. That had been the moment when he decided that the ground was a good place, and that good things were possible. It was also the moment when he realized he was in love with her. Even his life ends now, even if Abby hates him forever and there is a war, nothing can take that memory from him. 

He closes his eyes and tries to picture himself there again. And with that comes a sudden burst of hope. A drive to make a plan, somehow get out, or at least finish what he started. Jaha hasn’t picked up the knife but Marcus isn’t quite ready to either, so instead he stalls for time. His eyes fall on the girl. The girl whose job it is to watch men kill each other. Perhaps a kindred spirit, then. He turns to her.

“What’s your name?”

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, I hope that didn't suck! I usually have more experience watching/rewatching/analyzing a show before I post fic for it but I watched this scene and thought "that could make some killer angst" so I just ran with it. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
